


Mother Hen

by egosoffire



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, anxiety attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 09:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egosoffire/pseuds/egosoffire
Summary: Tony suffers from an anxiety attack in the grocery store; he gets help from an unlikely mother hen.





	Mother Hen

Anxiety attacks were nothing new to Tony, but they were always unexpected. At least sometimes, they had the courtesy of happening at a bad moment, a moment where the triggering instance was clear. Those times, as much as they sucked, made some semblance of sense. 

This time, he was standing in the middle of the goddamned grocery store. 

His throat tightened up and his stomach hurt. First, he thought he was going to throw up or...deal with other disgusting bodily functions. 

“Shit,” Tony murmured. 

Across the store, as Tony scanned for an exit, he saw a figure that looked entirely out of place in a grocery store. While he was wearing relatively normal clothing in an attempt to fit in, Loki looked like a creature from another world no matter what he did.

“Anthony…” Loki whispered.

Tony was about to make a snarky comment about how Loki loved using his first name because he was a pretentious smartass, but then his heart hurt so bad he dropped down to the ground. 

Loki walked up to him and put an arm around him, catching him before he fell down. 

“Loki?” he asked, confused.

“The one and only,” Loki responded with a smirk, helping him back to his feet. “Can you walk by yourself or do you need me to stay this close?”

“I can…” Tony started to say, but then trailed off. His knees felt like they were ready to give out again at any moment. “I need a little help.”

Even though his own words made his pride feel sore, Tony was relieved when Loki supported him a bit more. “Don’t worry,” Loki murmured. “I will take us outside, then maybe we can call one of your cars…”

So, Loki slowly led him outside. Tony clung to him, fingers clenched tight around an emerald fabric. He was struggling to breathe, but the touch was somewhat comforting. Loki’s entire presence was comforting.

“Tell me who I should call.”

Tony went to reach for his phone, only to find that Loki was holding it in his hand. The bastard had swiped it when he wasn’t looking.

“Call Happy. He’ll bring a car.” 

Loki obediently did so, pressing the right contact and making the call in a tone that would have been humorous in another situation.

“Stark requires a car. Bring one to this location now. He is unwell.”

It was just so clipped, and tense and downright amusing. It almost sounded like Loki was afraid for him.

Happy was there in fifteen minutes with the car. Loki slid Tony inside and then joined him. Tony was starting to calm down, to get back to himself. He was surprised to find that Loki was holding onto his hand.

“Why the hand holding?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Loki practically spat at him. “I just felt like it was a good idea. Are you feeling better? Your heart is starting to slow back down, and is approaching a rate that is closer to normal for your kind.”

“I feel better,” Tony said, ignoring the fact that Loki was talking about him like he was a wild animal trainer dealing with a strange, rare breed. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“Does that happen to you often?”

Tony licked his lips, unsure how to answer that without embarrassing himself.

“At times,” he said. “I’ve dealt with anxiety for a long time. Usually, it has a more obvious trigger, but it sort of just...happened, today.” 

“I’m very sorry,” Loki said, and it hit Tony that he was being entirely genuine in his concern. He did not like the fact that Tony was hurting. “It sounds like a very devastating condition to have to deal with.”

“It is, sometimes,” Tony agreed. He caught his breath, took a deep one and felt a lot better. “How did you know I was there? What on earth were you doing in a grocery store?”

Loki reached over and touched his shoulder.

“Asgardians need to eat too, and Thor is now responsible for a whole lot of them,” he said with a shake of his head. “He brought a small group to New York to work on some things, and they’re very hungry.” 

Tony couldn’t help laugh at that. The laughter surprised him, bursting forth. He knew that Thor was under an immense amount of pressure, responsible for all of the Asgardian refugees on earth, but the idea of Thor sending Loki on grocery duty was almost too much. 

“Funny?”

“Hell yes, that’s funny,” Tony said. “You tried to take over this planet, once, and now you’re on grocery duty. I love it.” 

“I’ll allow you your fun,” Loki decided. “I’m just doing it to be kind, since you had a rough episode, by the way. Don’t expect it in the future.” 

“I should have known you were a mother hen in disguise,” Tony said. He then sat up and looked over at Loki. He reached over and took the god by the hand. “Thank you, Loki. Thank you.” 

 


End file.
